blogging

5 Things to love this September

Now September is here, there are so many things to love about the start of Autumn. Yes summer is over but time to look forward to a new season. From walks in the park to the perfect excuse to go out and buy new clothes, there’s plenty to look forward to as the nights draw in.

My June Monthly Goals

A little late but here are my June Goals! Website problems; it’s still a learning curve for me. I’ve kind of taken my foot off the gas in terms of this blog, maybe lost a little focus along the way but I still love my blog just feel that other things are taking priority. Work, family; it’s easy to lose focus and get out of the habit of setting time aside to the things you love.

Since making a conscious effort at the beginning of the year set myself monthly goals instead of a list of New Year Resolutions I find I’m actually getting more stuff done and also focusing on allowing a little more time for what I actually want to do.

25 Blogpost Ideas

It can be a bit of a struggle coming up with fresh content for your blog. Sometimes we are all in need of a little inspiration when coming up with Blog Post Ideas, I am no exception to this. Ironically, when I’m not sat at my laptop the ideas come thick and fast. Annoying isn’t it? When this happens I tend to scribble down these flashes of blog genius on whatever piece of paper I have to hand (usually the back of an envelope) or add it as a note on my phone.

So if you are hitting a brick wall of the blogging variety and need to get the creativity flowing then here are 25 Blog Post Ideas to help you out.

Your Fitness Routine

10 Healthy Habits

Favourite Phone Apps

5 Facts about Yourself

Favourite Bloggers at the moment

Share a Workout Playlist

Share your Favourite Recipe

10 best things about where you live

Blogging lessons learnt

Review a product

The last book you read

Round up of the last month’s blog posts

Your favourite Inspirational Quote and why

Follow-up an old blog post

5 Favourite Pinterest Projects

What’s in your handbag

Things that make you smile

A hard choice you have had to make

Must-have beauty items for this season

The meaning behind your blog name

How to start a blog

The beginners guide to …

How do you unwind?

Curate content in your niche

Favourite photo of the week

Hope you find some inspiration from these blog post ideas. How do you find inspiration when the dreaded bloggers block shows it’s face? If you love what you blog about half the battle is won and the ideas will start flowing, just be ready with pen and paper when they do!

My Blogging Journey, 12 Months On

12 months ago I published my very first blog post; yikes reading it still makes me cringe but it marked the start of creative process that I have (for most of the time) enjoyed. So after 12 months of blogging I think it’s a good time to reflect, don’t you think? Am I still passionate about the reasons why I started this blog in the first place? So I guess these are the blogging tips I have picked up along the way.

What’s worked?

Linking back to older posts has allowed me to share older content that new visitors would not have seen as not all visitors will dig down to older posts previously published. I’ve also discovered a great plugin called Revive Old Post, fab for retweeting old posts and I can set my own parameters for what gets re-tweeted.

Revamped my site by changing the theme. My new theme, Kerli, is more me, easy to customise, easy to navigate and it’s design is responsive so easy to read on tablet, desktop or smartphone. I recommend you read this great article, whether a newbie blogger or looking to change your blog theme.

Appreciating the importance of Blog maintenance, it’s also a great way of updating content and source of inspiration if you get a touch of bloggers block. Read my blog post on Blog Maintenance for tips and advice.

Upgraded my Canva account to Canva Work; this has helped me to organise my designs more efficiency and the ‘magic resize, option saves time as well as providing design consistency when adapting blog designs across the different social media platforms.

Engaged more with Pinterest; I absolutely love this social media platform and found that I have got more visitors coming to my blog via Pinterest than Twitter, Facebook or via online search.

Following other bloggers has inspired me to present my content differently, take a different approach to how I design my graphics but most importantly to ALWAYS be myself when I write! Some of my favourite bloggers include White Oak Creative, Wonderlass, byRegina.com, Carly Rowena and Kayla Itsines.

What do I need to work on?

My photography skills still need major room for improvement but I’ve not quite thrown on the towel. It’s all about getting as much practice as possible and being more organised. Pinterest, as always has been a great source of inspiration and advice.

I’ve taken onboard advice from some fab bloggers, these articles have been particulary useful:

Using different blog post formats; I think I tend to be very samey with the format of my blog posts so I need to work on publishing content in different formats especially those that potentially attract more readers. These include Lists, How To Guides, Curated content, Tips and Advice. This blog postfrom A Girl Obsessed offers fab ideas for different types of Blog Posts that gets loads of views.

Engaging more with fellow bloggers. I guess I’m a bit shy when it comes to commenting on other bloggers blog posts but I know from having read the advice from other blogs that commenting on posts can help to grow readership on your own blog posts. So I guess I need to overcome the shyness and engage more!

What are my blogging goals for the future?

I suppose it’s really to keep blogging and not worry about the frequency of publishing posts. I know most blog advice recommends consistency and a regular schedule when you post which I do agree with if you want to engage and grow readership but I’m not going to beat myself up if I still fall short on this.

Do I still have that passion to continue to blog?

Honestly? The passion for my blog has at times dwindled. Partly because there has been a lot this year to contend with on a personal basis but I have enjoyed the paths that blogging has taken me down. I’ve discovered new interests, read more, flexed my brain in different ways and have totally loved the whole process of being creative. The original goals of why I started this blog still remain but I’ve struggled to committing the time I’ve needed to grow readership. But you know what? I’m perfectly happy with that. I will continue to blog but I’m not stressing over how often I will try and publish or obsess over stats. I intend to enjoy the blogging process and see where this blog takes me in the next 12 months!

Thank you for reading this. Do you blog? What are the positives you have taken from blogging? Have you any blogging tips or advice for the newbie blogger?

Happy 6 Months Blog Anniversary to me!

I still can’t bring myself to look at my first blog; Time to Start Blogging. OK I do occasionally glance at it when I open up WordPress for a bit of a Blog Housekeeping session (meaning when I have bloggers block) but I need a little more time to prepare myself for the toenail curling experience I’ll have when I do eventually look at it again.

So 6 months isn’t a long time in the great scheme of things, well it is when you are 5 and waiting for your birthday or Christmas day to arrive but when you are a grown-up it really isn’t. It’s also not a lot of time in the blogging world either but for me it’s probably an opportunity to reflect on how it’s all been going and maybe focus on what I’m going to do blog-wise for the next 6 months.

The Story so far in the world of me and busyfitmama?

What have I learnt?

You probably won’t become an overnight success, be able to hand your notice in and earn millions! Blogging is hard work!

Looking at how others Blog and reading their blogging journeys has not only motivated me to carry on but I don’t feel that I’m the only one that isn’t getting the supposed success or engagement that we all perhaps want when we take the plunge and create a blog.

I prefer to take my own images and not rely on stock photography. Ok my images aren’t great, still very much work in progress but they are mine. Yes I do use some stock photography and love Pixabay but adding my own images has been a means of injecting my own personality into my blog. Having a mix of my own images and stock photography has worked for me.

Using Apps/software to automate the admin side of my blog or help improve my graphic design and photography skills (although that is debatable at times). I now can’t do without Canva, Hootsuite.

What have I enjoyed?

The whole creative process in creating a blog and getting it out there.

The learning curve that I’ve experienced and am still experiencing. From registering a domain name, getting to grips with WordPress, editing images and trying to develop a social media strategy (of sorts). The list goes on. Basically I think it’s made me use the grey matter again and at times push me out of my comfort zone.

Falling back in love with Twitter and discovering Pinterest. Both amazing when it’s come to finding other bloggers, providing help when stuck on something technical and helping to motivate and inspire me to get a post published.

What’s not been so enjoyable?

Spam! Grrrrr. Still fighting the battle on that one, I can only liken it to fighting Zombies in a post-apocalyptic world; relentless, never ending with the odd victory along the way!

Editing and using my own images only to find they look rubbish when I look at one of my published blogs.

What mistakes have I made?

Becoming obsessed with statistics. Number of hits, number of twitter impressions, number of comments ………. Yes I do get a buzz when one of my blogs gets a load of hits but it shouldn’t be the be all and end all if a blog doesn’t get many views or no retweets when I throw it out there. I need to get over it, perhaps look more strategically at how I can get more engagement.

Not always writing it in my own style. I’m busy, I’m a mum, I’m passionate about fitness and being healthy, my life is chaotic. So why at times do I write like a robot? I believe it’s important to inject your own personality into your blogs and this is something I need to keep focused on when I am writing.

Writing to please SEO requirements. Yes it is important and gives your blog a potential to be ranked higher but I’ve got to write first then look at ways to improve SEO; not the other way round which I’ve been guilty of doing!

What do I need to improve on?

Being more disciplined about getting blogs written, organised and published. I’m still all over the place when it comes to the frequency of publishing. It is a time thing, I’m busy and life just gets in the way. I’ve overcome barriers when it comes to my fitness, perhaps I need to apply this to my blogging. Sitting in a coffee shop writing dream-inspiring blogs would be lovely but at the end of the day I’ve still got to get the kid’s packed lunches sorted, still have to go to work and occasionally address the pile of ironing, which like zombies and spam, simply won’t go away if I ignore it!

So what happens next?

OK it’s only been 6 months. I’m still a newbie. I need to look at establishing a more regular pattern for blogging. Be mindful of not losing sight of why I started to blog and most importantly for me write as me! This a been a great opportunity to reflect on my blogging experience. Here’s hoping I still feel passionate about why I blog when I look back at this post in 6 months time!

Are you new to blogging? Have you taken time out to reflect on how it’s all going? Are you a blog veteran? Are there any tips that you have for the newbie blogger?

8 Blogshare Twitter Accounts Infographic

I am a big fan of the Infographic and a big fan of Twitter! Ok so I’m relatively new to the world of blogging but like many newbies it’s been a hard slog getting my head around the whole process and attracting readers to my blog. Don’t get me wrong, I have loved the whole blogging process; it’s exercising my brain and imagination constantly! I’m always looking at ways to get more readers to discover my humble little blog and Twitter has been one of the ways that I am slowly growing my readership.

There are many Twitter Blogshare Accounts that will share your blog if you follow them and tag them in your posts. Below are my favourites. To keep these organised I’ve created a list on Twitter specifically for them so when I post a tweet about a new blog I’ve written I work down the list of Blogshare Twitter accounts.

Are there any Blogshare Twitter Accounts that are great for getting your blog posts out to a wider audience?

Here we go! Time to start blogging

Ok so this is my first blog ever

Scary stuff but here goes! I’ve been told by a fellow blogger friend that you look back at your first blog and cringe. I suppose it’s like that ‘bang on trend’ haircut/style/colour you had back in the day and now your toes literally curl when you look back at photos of you with said haircut/style/colour (mine was a perm). So I need to post something in order to get said opportunity to cringe at it.

I’ve always wanted to blog but have felt that I can only do this when I feel that I something worth saying and about something I feel deeply passionate about. Think it’s always been a question of what to blog about. Then it came to me recently that perhaps I should write about my passion for Read more

About Me

Hi I'm Helen.
Welcome to my blog.
Busy working Mum of 3. Healthy mind, healthy body, healthy diet.
My mission is to inspire others to overcome the barriers that stop them from getting fit and leading a healthy acting lifestyle.